The Reds have started the new campaign almost perfectly - five goals, all the front four scoring and two clean sheets. But leagues aren't won in August - there's one hell of a season to navigate. Many of us, myself included, have taken pleasure out of the fact that the so-called 'experts' have questioned the ability of our squad to challenge with a perceived lack of depth. Against Burnley we had Bobby, Thiago, Konate, Robertson and Gomez on our bench, and Fabinho missed the game due to the passing of his father. I'm not quite sure how much stronger they think we need to strengthen to be considered serious title contenders?

Flying under the radar as underdogs is something that all Reds should relish however.
The one thing that those experts have got correct however is their prediction that Chelsea will be a major contender for the league this season. Tuchel took over from Lampard in January last and immediately changed the fortunes of a team that were looking like they would face mid-table mediocrity, leading them to a top 4 place and an impressive Champions League success. They have strengthened significantly with the addition of Lukaku to their squad, and are still actively involved in the closing stages of the transfer windows with links to players such as Jules Kounde from Sevilla and, more significantly, a potential loan move for Saul Nigeuz from Atletico who has been persistently linked with a move to Liverpool over the course of the summer. Chelsea are going nowhere - they need to be taken very seriously.


Lukaku rejoined Chelsea for a phenomenal £97.5m fee from Inter Milan this summer, and in his debut against Arsenal last weekend his physical dominance made it impossible for a weakened Gunners defence to deal with, as he bullied his way to a man-of-the-match performance which included a debut goal. Much like the Liverpool squad, Chelsea's squad are in relatively rude health with the only injuries concerning recent positive COVID cases (Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek). N'Golo Kante and Hakim Ziyech returned from injury to make the Arsenal matchday squad last weekend, and Kante could well start against LIverpool in place of Mateo Kovacic. This is likely to be the only change to the Chelsea starting line-up. Ben Chilwell is knocking on the door for a start but it is unlikely he will succeed in replacing Marcos Alonso who has had a very solid start to the campaign. This could be an opportunity for Liverpool to target Chelsea's left hand side, and Trent should be well placed to test Alsonso's speed and defensive skills quite severely. Jorginho, Havertz, Mount and Reece James are all likely to cause particular concern for Liverpool.

Both teams have had 100% starts to the season, so something has to give on Saturday evening. Given Chelsea's rearguard would consider themselves lucky not to concede against the ruthless Red's frontline, and equally their optimism that their own firepower will see them score against Liverpool, there are certain to be goals. There is also the interesting sidestory of Klopp versus Tuchel. Both have coached at Mainz and Dortmund, and they have come up against each other in the Champions League, Europa League, Bundesliga and the Premier League. Klopp has the edge over Tuchel so far with 9 wins out of 14, but the last meeting in the league was a 1-0 victory for Chelsea back in March when Mason Mount scored the only goal.

The atmosphere at Liverpool's return to a full capacity Anfield last weekend was epic, but that was an early Saturday kick-off. Seeing as it's a prime 5:30pm slot for the Chelsea match the atmosphere will only be more electric come kick-off.
I can't predict this one, I'm not going to even try. No one can underestimate the significance of this game even if it is only the 3rd game of the season.
Up the Mighty Reds.

Paul Collins

LFC Fanatic

Follow me on Twitter: @IrishRedDubai